once a radiant boy light of my mother’s eyes I am become a beast and sparkle darkly now I am become a beast what once glowed with fire within is drowned in blood and gore old unhappy distant things the battles of long ago I am become a beast conflict is all I know
I saw my numbers etched on someone else’s wall I don’t know what that means I don’t suppose it matters love is a foreign country a stranger on the bus it don’t come round here no more it went out with the wind and the trees and my mother’s bones it whispers soft it whispers low but it don’t remember my name out here in the open bleached by the summer sun there’s no need for names total exposure the duality of nature a biological exchange who lives will see it doesn’t matter any more
the birdies are singing a new day is dawning sunlight fans across the land powdered gold lights the treetops nature issues her one command there’s a majesty to every season but summer has reigned since the world first began
work without reward is slavery they say there’s dignity in labour I must’ve missed that scene I worked hard for my meat but never got any satisfaction I’d rather be a thief than a slave I’d rather help myself than receive a weekly wage I take my pleasure without conscience coz nothing was ever given me I had to prize it loose I bit the hand that fed me I wouldn’t be the first I shouldn’t be the last to shape my own reality and live by my own graft
the truth is in the feel in the root and sinew the truth is in my gut twisting in my bowels I don’t have to think the truth is in my blood I have it in my power to light my own fire so they tried to lock me up and quench my flame in the name of good order they put a pox on my house and softly dragged me under they gave me poisonous pills to alleviate their pain but I took their tender ministrations and flushed them down the crapper they tell me hell is still half empty its streets are paved with lies they say the devil knows my name which comes as no surprise
I felt the heat from the stars radiate across the universe as I lay in the tall grass with the good green earth growing all around me there, at the end of the world night reigned supreme and night seeped into the heart of me into my very soul and I knew my days were numbered but the nights would last forever
I came and came ten thousand times into warmer embraces than these through summer’s misadventures and reckless indiscretions I once had a life or so it seemed to me but you’ll never reach me now these are my darker days when I’m perfectly alone you say the dark don’t bother you but it sure as hell bothers me you can take the load off but I’ll never be that free I wish I was loaded I wish I was high I wish I was somebody else coz that’s the perfect alibi
the cry of night the sound of the street deathbird spread your wings take me to that other place but not just now not for a while give me space I only need space to rest a bit to gather strength before the day so kiss my lids bless my dreams don’t murder me just let me sleep
I’m sick of life in the hobo jungle I’ll have to concoct an escape I’ve marshalled my resources my charms and brittle toys but nothing’s ever real so I’ll keep my place wait for my moment you don’t need an excuse to be poor you don’t need a uniform to fight in the war but you need a little faith to help you through the night it’s a long way from cleaning windows but it’s hardly sunny side up I’m like you I have lived in the odd moment and I remember what you said in your little voice you said “I think I’ve had enough, so thank you and good luck” I didn’t require your ministrations I expected no gratitude for mine but I could have used your hand these last ten thousand miles
I have a hard time waking most mornings I have a hard time sleeping most nights but I dreamed I won the war and everything was alright there was dancing in the streets and I saw myself on TV but that was sometime yesterday I only own today
when I get low I
get high they can’t take that away what do you make of a man like me? I got one foot on the platform the other foot on the train I thought I was me for a moment but I’m somewhere back in time I thought I won the war but it was only in my mind
you can’t control me now you’re no longer in my scheme I’m not afraid of you you won’t hurt me again there’s nothing you can do nothing you can say I’ve had enough of you and your brutal ways you call your aggression justice and my resistance crime I’ll no longer play your victim just as I’ll never play your thug but if you think I’ll be a bystander then you can think again there are forms of subtle violence that breed conformity I will not acquiesce to them you won’t get that from me
I hear the jets tearing across the sky they’re on their way to hell peals of rolling thunder the muted cries of death I’ve had my share of sleepless nights but I’m at home in the dark and home is where the heart is, right? sometimes I think about dying I think of little else I’ve gone transatlantic I’ve learned to fly myself I’m drinking what you’re drinking neat scotch the drink of free men the red eye to oblivion I ripped a hole in the night my dreams came tumbling out
